It's Finally Friday Mail!

Happy, Happy Friday Readers! I am happy to report that a good hand full of cards make it my way this afternoon--mostly of the critter and scenic view variety. Let's get to the goods, shall we?

First up this afternoon is a furry little friend from Simone in Germany!



Complete with a squirrel sticker, a new stamp and an awesome postcard! Thanks, Simone : )

A postcrosser in Minsk, Belarus shares a sunny and beautiful Spring time view

Pascal sends me a stamp from The Netherlands that I have never gotten before...

and greetings from this little zoo kitten!

Pen pal Tamara sends me a letter and some wonderful stamps to decorate the envelope. Thanks, Tamara. I will write back soon :)

 She also manages to come up with the most adorable decorative tape!

Mail friend Col. Akhil sends a view of the Dilwara Jain Temple on Mount Abu in India

and stamps! My first from India!

Juli shows her lighter side-and perhaps her wish for Summer-with a light hearted and adorable postcard :)

One of only a few Las Vegas cards that I have recieved...thank you to Barb and her husband who are getting ready to make their trip to "The City of Sin". Hope you two have fun!

Brooke shows off her home town of Pasadena, California!

and last up for the evening, Mikki sends a sparkly, handmade card with a letter inside! Thanks, darlin'! :)

I hope that everyone had a great week! I have some letters to write back to and a lot of mail to organize but I also am happy to just kick back and relax and NOT have to get up to go to work in the morning! Happy Mailing :)

Postcard: "The Children are the Garden of the Revolution"

Hello Readers! Happy Happy Thursday! I popped over to the blog this morning to discover that we had a few more committed followers and an explosion in daily pages views, Go Us! :)  A pretty neat art and community postcard made its way from one of my mail swapping friends, Tazzini. Let's get to it!

"Solidaridad es la ternura del pueblo"

"Solidarity is the Tenderness of the People"

"The Children are the Garden of the Revolution" Mural on the Children's Library, Luis Alfonso Velasquex Park, Managua, Nicaragua, December 1983.

Sponsored by the Sandinista Children's Association (ANS). Created in solidarity by North American artists Miranda Bergman, Marilyn Linstrom, Jane Norling and Odilia Rodriguez with help from many Nicaraguan artists, organizations and community people.'

Oh, Hello Tuesday. Is that mail you bring?

Happy Happy Tuesday Readers! Today found itself even better than Monday ( I know, not hard some times, right?) and do you know what made it EVEN better? All of the mail that came my way! I was pleasantly surprised to see a good handful of cards and a couple of letters, on what is normally a slow mail day! Let's check it out :D

First up-a piece of mail celebrating the love of snail mail we all share! Thanks to Andrea for sending me a bit of Swap-bot mail :) 

 A postcard from across the pond featuring a stamp issued by the Royal Mail in 2000. The photograph, taken by Deborah Osborne, is entitled "Art and Craft" and featured in Cycle Network Artworks.

 From Yzina in Ukraine comes a card featuring the Monument to the Prince Grigoriy Polyomkin in Kherson-the Southern most point in the Ukraine!

 Some small town love makes its way from Round-O, South Carolina!

Zong-Yi in Taiwan sends a card showing the beauty of the Alishan Forest Railway in Chiayi! I love how lush and green it is! All the train tracks around me are far more industrial looking! Thank you, I will write back to answer your questions soon! :) 

A letter comes from a follower! Thank you to Kimberly in New Hampshire for the blog lovin' and the letter! I will get back to you shortly!

 Julie sends a letter about her favorite spot in St. Louis--with a beautiful butterfly to boot!

Speaking of butterflies, a letter comes from Christine in Michigan! This is the second letter that I have gotten weeks after the postmark?!?! Don't worry Christine, I'll have a letter out soon!

Last up for the evening, a beautiful letter comes from Australian friend, Anna, who writes about her love of 1950s clothing and hairstyles!

I have so many great letters to write back to and so many great cards to show off! Thank you to everyone who made this Tuesday an awesome mail day. I'm off to get a few letters and cards together for the morning. Happy Mailing!

Monday Mail Call!

Happy Happy Monday Readers! It's a warm, clear, breezy Spring day here in Green Country--what a better way to spend the afternoon reading incoming mail and writing back to ones beloved pen pals! I am proud to say that I have made a significant dent in my "reply to" pile, so I have a little time for extra postcard swaps and stopping by the blog to show off my goods! There's a couple of letters today but mostly postcards--and even a couple of firsts! Let's get started, shall we?

First up for the afternoon, a couple of nosey meerkats make the way from the Ukraine! Thank you to Vika who is studying ecology and chemistry in hopes to prevent testing on animals and animal cruelty in her country! 







 Mige sends me my first card from Istanbul!

 Morgan in Australia shares a postcard of a full moon at sunset behind an ancient corkwood tree in the outback!

 Daniela in Germany an optical illusion! If you focus the image about 15 inches from youreyes. they look at the x and move the image slowly in the direction of nose. Migratory birds in the cage!

 A work by Fiep Westndorp--illustrator of children's books until her death in 2004-makes its way from Marinda in the Netherlands!

 Deb sends her postcard with some older postage. My favorite is the red Arbor Day stamp..

 ..Her card shows off the Lincoln statue in Washington, DC. The statue is 19 feet high and is carved out of Georgia marble! Thanks, Deb!

 A very cool recycled letter and envelope makes its way to the mail box from Lorraine in California!

 Also from my Australian mail friend, Morgan, comes a gorgeous (and vacation worthy) view of Jim Jim Creek in Kakadu National Park! :)

That's all the mail for me on this Monday! I'm off to keep making a dent in my letter stack--if I owe you one, it will more than likely be on it's way soon! Happy Mailing Folks!

Friday Mail!

Hello Readers! So...for some reason, I had it in my head that I had updated yesterday....well, I was wrong! I only have a little bit of mail to share this evening (and so much more to reply to....) but for a Friday the 13th, I'd say it's pretty good :D

This card comes from a postcrosser in Shenzhen and features Guangdong's University of Foreign Studies!

Awesome stamps that came along for the 14 day, 12,802km journey! 

Kelly in Columbus, OH sends a scenic view from Amish Country in Berlin,Oh. During summers harvest the fields will be filled with barley, wheat or oats as well as vegetable and flower gardens. Thanks, Kelly! 

Oksana sends a card from Minsk, Belarus where she is a secondary school English teacher. Her students also participate in postcard swaps and get excited for cards from new countries :) Can't say I blame them! 

 An awesome multi-view from a mail friend in Friesland, Netherlands!

 An absolutely stuffed with goodies card and letter highlighting "International Women's Day" makes its way from Donna in Canada! Thank you for the awesome tea and all of the mail love :)

 A wonderful new pen pal relationship has been established, I am proud to say! Thank you and welcome to Kerstin in Germany. I will write back very soon :)

The inside of the envelope....where are you all finding these, I love it! 

 Last but not least the niffty stamp and adorable postmark!

That's it for my Friday mail, folks. I have a few things to get out and stamped for tomorrows mail pickup! Hope everyone had a great mail week :)

More Postcards!! Whoo Hoo!

Happy Happy Tuesday Readers! I am happy to announce that we have a few more registered followers in our ranks than we did last week! A very warm welcome to you new folks and as always a shout out to the passers-by :)

After what seemed like one of the most hectic and absurd Mondays that I have ever had at the bank, I am very glad to be sitting on my living room couch--windows open, cats trying to eat my mail--on what was a very quiet  and run-of-the-mill transaction Tuesday. The even better news is I have some pretty awesome postcards to share...let's go!

These first two cards were the high light of my Monday....they are both from sets that I have (and cards that I have shared) --I was super excited to see them looking back at me! Thank you to Margie in NC who just returned from a fabulous trip in the Southern Caribbean and to Deidre in MO who was kind enough to share part of her "Wanderlust" set with me!!!

From Sabine in Germany, who is expecting her second child this summer! 

Check out the beautiful stamps she sent along for the ride!

My second card that came from Deidre! This time featuring some pretty famous pups in C.M. Coolidge's "Sitting U[ with a Sick Friend"! Thanks a bunch! I might have to share this one with mom--she loves these dogs :)

 You all know I just love when a squirrel card appears and this Finnish postcrosser did too! A million thanks to Satu for sending me one of only a handful of cards featuring my favorite spring critter!

Yko in Japan sends me this little slice of Americana! Notice that the painting is from the 1950s and the boy is bringing Coca-Cola to a baseball team of girls! 

This is the stamp that came along with Yko's card!

 Keri in Salt Lake City sends a bit of childhood my way...okay, maybe I wasn't a child when Cars came out but I really do love Pixar movies....and their postcards :)

 Last up for the afternoon comes from Shirley in Great Falls, MT. This card features what I think is a very beautiful photo of Belle-Ile-en-Mer off the Breton south coast by Norbert Kustos. :)

Here's hoping that everyone's weeks are shaping up well. We are almost half way through! I am off to write at least a few letters as the only thing I sent out today was a bill for a magazine subscription...oops! :)

Two Postcards from Taiwan

Happy Happy Saturday Readers! It's a cloudy, dreary day here in the heartland and as Easter Sunday approaches the prospects for something to do with the rest of my weekend are dwindling. On the bright side, I did get some pretty decent mail in. I have two awesome postcards that I want to tell you about tonight so lets get to it!

The first card today comes from Gina Wang in Taiwan. The painting by Kahlil Gibran, entitled "The Prophet"  carries the tag line "We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way". The image showcases the plight of foreign brides--women from South East Asia who married in order to live in Taiwan". The Three line poem on the card was written by Chinese poet Li Po

"The moon light reflecting on the earth appears like frost;

I look up to gaze upon the moon

, and look down thinking of my home land"

Thank you Gina for the card as well as the translation! :)

The second card that came to me today makes it's way from Sylvia in Taipei and features one of the most commonly visited skyscrapers!

The Taipei 101 is located in the Xin-Yi district--which is also one of the most prosperous areas of Taipei. With 101 floors, the skyscraper is home to many forms of business but also serves as a shopping mall to the people of the city and thousands of tourists.

Thank you Sylvia for the wonderful card and the background information :)

How exciting to get my first two cards from Taiwan on the same day--and both of them so very different! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I do!

Wednesday Postcard: The Legend of the Dogwood

Happy Happy Wednesday Readers! I hope the middle of the week finds you all well; the weekend is insight, Easter is around the corner for some of you and by now you have probably gotten in some pretty good mail! I know I sure have and I have also been trying my hardest to get caught up....I'm no where close but I hope to use some time tonight and some down time tomorrow to at least make a dent! Be patient pen pals, I'm on my way! In the mean time let's check out the awesome card I got in today--I just love these kind of cards--I'll have to see if I can find any dogwood flowers. Hope you all enjoy the story!  :)

Thank you to Susan in upstate New York for sending this my way!

"The Legend of the Dogwood"

There is a legend, that at the time of the Crucifixion the dogwood had been the size of the oak and other forest trees. So firm and strong was the tree that it was chosen as the timber of the cross. To be used thus for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the tree, and Jesus, nailed upon it, sensed this, and in His gentle pity for all sorrow and suffering said to it: "Because of your regret and pity for My suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth it shall be slender and bent and twisted and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross..two long and two short pedals. And in the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints, brown with rust and stained with red, and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see it will remember."